468 



RECREATION. 



the grass and eating it. They seem to 

 have lost all fear, and when food is thrown 

 to them several scramble after it and some- 

 times indulge in a fight for it. 



Not many days ago I was attracted by 

 several children who were standing close 

 to the fence and seemed unusually inter- 

 ested in something that was happening 

 within. On going there I found one of 

 the prairie dogs vigorously scratching up 

 the dirt that had thawed since morning 

 and pushing it into a burrow, while from 

 the depths of the hole came the voice of 

 another prairie dog who was scolding 

 vigorously. When the one outside had 

 deposited a quantity of dirt in the 

 mouth of the burrow he went down and 

 deliberately began ramming it in, to close 

 up the hole. To this proceeding the other 

 dog objected. They fought a minute or 

 so; then one withdrew down the hole, and 

 the other continued to hammer in the dirt 

 with his nose. I was not more than 2 feet 

 away and could see the operations very 

 well. Being called elsewhere, I left the 

 besieger vigorously at work. Fifteen min- 

 utes later I found the hole securely 

 plugged, and the little villain who had suc- 

 cessfully entombed his enemy, his face and 

 feet covered with mud, was looking about 

 for something to eat. What he had against 

 the prairie dog in the burrow, and why he 

 wanted to bury him, I can not explain. 

 Late in the afternoon I again visited the 

 enclosure and found that either the pris- 

 oner or some other dog had dug open the 

 hole. 



SOME FACTS ABOUT PORCUPINES. 



S. N. LEEK. 



In November Recreation I notice sev- 

 eral articles on enemies of the porcupine. 

 If there is a place where porcupines are as 

 thick as they are here I have never heard 

 of it. 



Some years ago when I settled here it 

 was a common occurrence to have to catch 

 both cattle and horses and pull the quills 

 out of their noses or out of the heels of the 

 horses. They probably would try to smell 

 the porky and get within reach of his un- 

 erring tail. This led ranchmen to kill all 

 the porcupines they saw, which has mate- 

 rially reduced their numbers. I have seen 

 a horse step on a porcupine in a trail over- 

 grown with grass and get all his legs full 

 of quills. Once Dr. Noll dismounted from 

 his horse to photograph a porky. The 

 beast stood his ground for some time, 

 when he made a break for cover, which 

 happened to be the doctor's horse that 

 was quietly grazing near. On feeling 

 something pick his leg the horse struck 

 out and kicked poor porky with all 4 feet 

 at once, transferring the quills to his own 

 legs. 



One spring while hunting bear at the 



foot of the Teton mountains T saw more 

 porcupines than ever before or since. We 

 usually put everything they could harm in 

 the tent, but one night, coming in late, I 

 forgot my saddle. They didn't eat it quite 

 up, but nearly. The next evening, in walk- 

 ing around camp, I met 8 of them coming 

 in to finish the saddle. Of course I didn't 

 do a thing to them. 



One day while going along the road I 

 passed the carcass of a horse that had died 

 the fall before, and there were 8 porkies 

 gnawing at the bones. Farther on I saw 

 10 of them at work at one time on the 

 bones of an elk. The porcupines were all 

 full grown, and it was a poor day for 

 them, too. 



I put in a small saw mill at the foot of 

 the Tetons and there we had trouble with 

 the porcupines. We could not sleep while 

 a porcupine was gnawing at the corner of 

 the house. We would stand it as long as 

 we could; then someone would get quietly 

 up, steal outdoors and whack him. It is 

 wonderful what pounding they can stand. 

 And still they came. One night while 

 alone at the mill I killed 7 at one trip and 

 about midnight I got 3 more. The first 

 one ran in front of the door on the porch, 

 gnawing. I got him. Then I heard one 

 on a big box beside the door. He was 

 eating a saddle blanket. I got him also, 

 and was about to go in when I nearly 

 ran my face against a great overgrown 

 one clinging to the porch post on a level 

 with my head. He gave me such a start I 

 missed him with an iron rod I had and 

 nearly knocked the post out, but I got 

 him the next trip. 



We never found anything they wouldn't 

 eat. They gnawed the whole end off the 

 the little porch we had on the house. At 

 the creek where we bathed they took the 

 soap we left lying on the bank. A bar of 

 soap just makes a porky a lunch. All 

 tools had to be put in the house or the 

 porcupines would eat the handles; and for 

 saddle blankets or harness they had a 

 weakness. The men working the road 

 had their shovel and pick handles gnawed 

 all over and the plow handles nearly eaten 

 up by porcupines. A man who left a 

 wagon box on the Teton pass had one 

 corner of it eaten entirely out and a hole 

 18 inches across cut through the bottom. 



In skinning bears, mountain lions, lynx, 

 wolverines and coyotes I have found por- 

 cupine quills embedded in the flesh. Once 

 in skinning a mink I found him full of 

 quills, but he had probably got too close 

 by mistake. I have seen dogs get quills 

 in them by rolling where a porcupine had 

 been killed. 



The porcupine makes several different 

 noises. One is a sort of singing made 

 when the old and young ones are out to- 



